


Forget Me Not

by foryeo



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-15
Updated: 2020-07-15
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:08:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25282117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foryeo/pseuds/foryeo
Summary: (Based on Seonghwa's picture from Ateez Storyline Event).AU where Ateez turn back time to fix their past mistakes, but things go horribly wrong, and they end up in a time where Ateez was never formed.Seonghwa however experiences memories from his former life. Even though he has no connection with his teammates anymore, Seonghwa feels a weird pull towards them.(Ah, I don't know mate, I'm not good with summaries).
Comments: 1
Kudos: 6





	Forget Me Not

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so basically, this was written for the Ateez Storyline Event. It didn't make the cut, but either way I don't want this to go to waste, so here we are. 
> 
> The original plot that I came up with was much bigger and complicated with tons of details, but I wasn't sure of the word limit, so I ended up posting this very summarised version for the competition, which I present to you now.  
> Hopefully in the near future, I'll be uploading the longer version as well, with much more feels and details.
> 
> P.S: This is my first time writing after my 3 years hiatus. So the writing itself might be a little rusty. So, I apologise for that in advance. Thank you.

“Forget-me-nots,” a deep voice spoke over Seonghwa’s shoulder. He turned around to face two tall tower like boys. 

  
“They signify remembrance. A promise to never forget the person,” the owner of the deep voice continued, smiling brightly at Seonghwa. The boy besides them shuffled awkwardly on his feet, his ears getting as pink as his hair. He looked like a character from a manga.

  
“Mingi, you are being rude, let’s go,” he said, tugging at his friend’s arm.

  
They both looked oddly familiar. Had he met them before? But their uniform didn’t match his school uniform. 

  
“You can have it,” Seonghwa finally spoke, and mindlessly shoved the bouquet of tiny bright blue flowers into Mingi’s hands. The boy’s face lit up at that.“Really?”

Seonghwa nodded.

  
“Wow, Yunho look!” he shoved the flowers at the boy’s face. “Thank you so much,” he looked at Seonghwa and beamed.

  
“Sorry about him,” Yunho bowed to Seonghwa. “Have a good summer vacation,” He smiled politely and then dragged his friend away.

  
Seonghwa finished emptying his locker and headed out as well, still unable to shake the feeling that he somehow knew them. For a second, he had thought he saw the three of them laughing and playing games. But the image disappeared as soon as it came. And the boys had shown no recognition. Maybe it was just an illusion. 

  
Also who had left forget-me-nots in his locker anyway? Seonghwa simply shook his head, clearing his thoughts away.

Strange things had been happening to Seonghwa for some time now. The hometown he lived in for his entire year had suddenly felt so strange. As if he had been gone for years and only now just come back. These narrow streets were filled with emptiness. And once in a while Seonghwa found himself yearning. It overshadowed all his other senses, till all he was left with was the desire to search for that something, or someone. And now, he was finding strangers familiar, and having hallucinations.

  
But today wasn’t the first time. Ever since his hometown started feeling strange, Seonghwa found himself escaping to the city side, walking down unknown roads, navigating them with ease, as if he had walked down these same paths a hundred times. The most common place he found himself in, was in front of the KQ building. He hadn’t realized where he was going, until he was standing in front of that building. It was almost as if it was calling him.

  
The first time he went there, he ran into a boy in the convenience store under KQ. The boy was buying snacks. One of which fell from his hand and rolled and came to a stop at Seonghwa’s feet. A shiny red apple. Seonghwa picked it up and handed it to the boy, whose head resembled a bit like the apple, all bright red. The boy thanked him and took it. But the brief moment their fingers slightly touched, Seonghwa thought he saw the apple broken in two perfect halves. He blinked in confusion, but the apple was whole the very next moment.

  
Seonghwa felt uneasy, he was about to turn around and leave, but as if his mouth had a mind of its own, the words were out before he could even think about. 

  
“Is your leg okay now—” Seonghwa bit his tongue as his eyes fell on the boy’s leg. There was nothing wrong with it. Why had he assumed it was wounded? The boy just looked at him confused. Seonghwa quickly apologized and left the store in a hurry, without buying anything.

That event and today’s interaction somehow felt connected. But Seonghwa decided to not pay it any heed, and to ignore the strange longing inside him. It would all fade away with time anyway. And it did. Seonghwa had almost forgotten about it, until he met the strange barista of the café that had opened just around the block.

  
“Hello, I’ll be your barista today. What can I get you?”

He greeted enthusiastically as Seonghwa walked in. His features were the first thing that caught his eyes. Sharp eyes, and jaws, he reminded him of a fox. But his features did not match the warmth this boy was radiating. Seonghwa couldn’t help but smile at him.

  
“Hi—” He looked at the boy’s name tag, “San.” 

  
Seonghwa froze. There it was. That feeling again. The one of longing. “San?” he breathed out softly, as if trying to recall a forgotten memory. 

  
“Yes, San, like the mountain,” the boy beamed proudly. “My dad gave me this name so I could be a comforting hill to some people and to others—”

  
“—an enormous mountain that nobody can dare defy,” Seonghwa spoke at the same time as San, as if in a trance.

  
“Wow, how did you know?” San asked, thoroughly amused.

  
“What?” Seonghwa shook his head, as if waking up from a dream. “I’ll have an Iced Americano.”

  
He handed San the cash, who then handed him the change and bill and an hourglass. “Please start this when you are seated down. If we don’t have your drink ready by then, it would be considered on the house.”

  
Seonghwa studied the hourglass. It felt like it was supposed to mean something. Deep in thoughts, he didn’t see where he was heading, and hit his foot at the leg of the chair, the hourglass slipping from his hand and shattering into mess of glass and sand at his feet. Before Seonghwa could react, the surrounding faded away, and he was no more in a café but rather a huge desert. Sand stretched as far the eyes could see. The only indication he hadn’t been alone all along, was the pair of seven footprints that lead away from him. Their owners nowhere to be seen. Seonghwa felt desperate and abandoned. He started running towards the footprints, hoping to catch up to its owner. But he couldn’t see the end, and his body felt heavy, unease building up in his chest, suffocating it. But it wasn’t just unease, Seonghwa noticed. Sand. He was being buried into the sand. There was sand raining on him. With a horror Seonghwa realized that it wasn’t a desert he was trapped in, but rather an hourglass.

  
“Are you okay?” He felt a hand on his shoulder, and the scenery flickered away, as if it was just a mirage.

His breathing was heavy as he looked back to see San’s eyes bore into his with concern. He was holding a tissue.“Here,” he handed it over. Seonghwa’s eyes twitched in confusion. “For your…” San motioned at his eyes.

Seonghwa touched the edge of his eyes, his fingers came of moist. Was he crying? Why? The suffocating feeling returned, and Seonghwa rushed out of the café, without collecting his drink.

He didn’t know how long or how far he ran, but he only stopped when he ran into somebody. The boy he had crashed into, stumbled forward. 

  
“Wooyoung! Are you okay?” His friend rushed to help him up. 

  
“Yes Yeosang, but this person doesn’t look okay. Mister, can we somehow help you?” He asked concerned. 

  
Wooyoung? Yeosang? Another image. The three of them cooking and eating fried rice. Laughter. Fooling around. More laughter. And it’s gone.

  
“Hey?” the boy who must be Yeosang, gently touched Seonghwa’s shoulder. But his head was hurting. What are these scenes? Some memory from another time? Dreams? Illusions? He couldn’t take it. He brushed off Yeosang’s hand and ran away.

It was almost night time, when Seonghwa found himself in front of KQ again. But today, its familiarity felt strangulating. What was happening to him? He needed answers. Was he losing his mind?

  
And that’s when he saw him; leaving KQ building. A boy, whose hair was as blue as the forget-me-nots he had received. And he felt it. Longing. Every cell in his body, screaming. He ran towards the boy, and grabbed him by his hand. The boy was taken off guard, and, for a second he looked at Seonghwa as if he recognized him, but that look faded away just as fast, and he jerked his hand away from Seonghwa’s grip. But in that struggle, the bracelet the boy was wearing, unhooked and fell. Seonghwa picked it, his breathing getting harder. 

  
“What’s this?” he examined it. It was a chain bracelet with a metallic tag. On one side were the letter ‘A T E’ and the rest of it wasn’t visible. Some kind of mist was covering the rest of the tag. He turned it over. It was the same behind. Only half of a word visible ‘A T I’

  
“What does this mean?” Seonghwa demanded.“What do these words mean?” He was almost crying now. 

The blue haired boy looked taken aback. “I- I don’t know.” He said softly. And bit his lips, then almost in trance, he murmured the words “Ateez.” If Seonghwa wasn’t standing so close he wouldn’t have heard it.

  
“What did you say?” He asked, his breath caught in his throat. 

  
“Nothing?” he replied, and he shook his head, unsure of what had happened. “Look, you can keep it if you want.”

  
And it all faded away. It was dark, and the space smelled strongly of woody citrus. And then there were cheers and the area filled up with tiny stars. No, that wasn’t right. Light sticks. Was he in a concert hall? The entire venue filled with light sticks and cheers. It was the most beautiful scene he had ever seen. Who were all of these people cheering for? 

  
“Let’s go,” he heard the blue haired boy say. Hongjoong. That’s what his name was. Was he on a stage? Seonghwa gripped at the mic he was holding, and looked around. He wasn’t alone. Yunho, Yeosang, San, Mingi, Wooyoung and Jongho were all there. His family. And this beautiful scenery- it was none other than Atiny- his destiny, the thing he has been longing for so long. And—

“Is he your friend, Hongjoong?” A voice broke

Seonghwa from his dream.

  
“Eden hyung, I—” he stopped short.

  
“Well, I was just leaving now, I could drop you both,” Eden smiled and looked at Seonghwa. “Do you live nearby?”

  
“I—” He didn’t live nearby at all. Why was he here then? What was going on? “I’m sorry.” 

  
Seonghwa rushed away from there, not looking back.

That was the last illusion he experienced. Time passed in a blur. His longing slowly faded away. And so did his strange memories, or were they illusions. The people he had dreamt of, they all faded from his mind, from his memories. But only her scent remained. The lingering woody citrus scent. No name, or address to known, as if he had been dreaming within his own dream. It all just faded away.


End file.
